North Croydon is a cluster of geometrically dreary, determinedly middle-class suburbs on the southwestern fringes of London. Its mile after mile of dull, red brick houses are inhabited by shopkeepers, civil servants, office workers. Since the constituency was formed in 1918, North Croydon has been doggedly Conservative.
Even so, Tories faced this week's North Croydon by-election with trepidation. In 1945, their man had just squeaked in by 607 votes against strong Labor and Liberal opposition. And Liberals were again entering a candidate, glamorous war hero Air Vice Marshal Donald Bennett, whose "damn the government" platform would tend to sap...